1. Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to video playback and recording systems and more particularly to video playback and recording systems that produce video signals for display on display devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital televisions (DTV) and high-definition televisions (HDTV) are gaining popularity in today's consumer electronics marketplace. Many purchasers of these types of televisions also buy digital video playback or recording systems such as digital video disc (DVD) recorders or DVD players for purposes of viewing previously recorded programs or recording their favorite programs. Notably, the combination of a DTV (or an HDTV) and a playback or recording system can be an integral part of a home theater entertainment system.
A digital video playback or recorder system typically contains an MPEG decoder to decode the digitally encoded multimedia data that is stored on the discs that the recorder plays. If the digital video playback or recorded system is connected to a conventional (non-DTV or non-HDTV) television, the digitally encoded signal will be decoded by the playback or recorder system's MPEG decoder before being displayed on the conventional television. Significantly, however, most DTV's contain their own MPEG decoders. As such, if a playback or recorder system is connected to a DTV, the system may be arranged such that the encoded digital video signal read from the system storage disc is transmitted to and remotely decoded by the DTV's decoder.
There is, however, an important disadvantage to decoding digitally encoded signals with a remote DTV decoder. Namely, it is very difficult to provide on screen display (OSD) in this type of arrangement. Generally, DVD recorders and conventional televisions contain complementary circuitry for generating OSD signals. An OSD is a user interface that can by overlaid over program images to notify a user of certain digital playback or recorder system functions. For example, if the DVD recorder is performing a fast-forward trick mode at three times (3×) the normal playback speed, the OSD can display this information on the screen of the conventional television as the trick mode is carried out.
There are several reasons why OSD signal generation is hindered by the playback or recorder system/DTV arrangement discussed above. First, it is difficult to generate the OSD signals at the DTV because the decoder of the DTV is remotely located from the playback or recorder system, and as such, the DTV is generally unaware of the functions being performed by these systems. Also, generating the OSD signal at the playback or recorder device and incorporating an OSD signal into the bitstream being transferred to the DTV may cause this bitstream to exceed the bandwidth limit between the playback or recorder system and the DTV. Thus, a need exists for a method and system for generating and displaying OSDs indicative of the functions being performed by a device that may be remote from the display device without increasing system costs or complexity.